JONESBORO — An attorney representing Craighead County has asked a circuit judge to reconsider his ruling that requires the county pay for the legal defense in a civil trial of the two boys who last year killed five people at Westside Middle School.
The expenses would deplete the county's funds, Lance Owens of Jonesboro stated in a motion filed Monday evening.
He asked Circuit Judge David Burnett of Osceola to reconsider his July 28 ruling that the county foot the bill of defending Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson, who were 11 and 13 when they opened fire on their classmates and teachers on March 24, 1998.
Didi Sallings, executive director of the Arkansas Public Defenders Commission, estimated last month the civil lawsuit could cost from $300,000 to $500,000.
That estimate includes expert witness fees, travel costs and other expenses, as well as the hourly fees of specially appointed public defenders.
The county has less than $70,000 in a fund established to pay for the defense of those unable to afford an attorney during the year.
The two boys were found guilty of five counts of capital murder and 10 counts of first-degree battery last August for their roles in the schoolyard shootings. Four students and a teacher were killed and 10 other people were wounded.
Andrew and Mitchell are being held in a state juvenile facility at Alexander.
Families of the victims filed a civil lawsuit against Mitchell, who turned 15 today,) and Andrew, now 13, and their parents. Also named as defendants are two gun manufacturers and Doug Golden, Andrew's grandfather.
The lawsuit seeks punitive and compensatory damages and an order that would prevent the two boys or their families from profiting from the shootings through the sale of book or movie deals or other entertainment ventures.
Attorneys have predicted the lawsuit will go to trial next summer in Jonesboro.
"This lawsuit will cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars," Owens said. "What will end up happening is the county's taxpayers will pay for it. If our money is depleted, someone will have to pay."
Bobby McDaniel, a Jonesboro attorney who is representing the families of the five who were killed, said he was pleased with Burnett's July 28 ruling. He said the estimated costs of defending the lawsuit were exaggerated.
"That's ridiculous," he said of Sallings' estimation. "It's absolutely absurd. Whoever made that [estimate] does not practice law in the real world."
During the July 28 hearing, Burnett said attorneys' fees and expenses should be covered by the county's Administration of Justice Fund, a fund established by Arkansas Act 1256 of 1995 to help public defenders pay for representing indigent clients accused of crimes.
The act also provides funding for the defense of those deemed incompetent in civil cases. Burnett said the two boys were considered incompetent for the purposes of a civil trial because they are children.
In his ruling Burnett noted Arkansas Code 14-20-102, which allows for "representation in civil and criminal matters of persons deemed incompetent by the court due to minority or mental incapacity."
Burnett also appointed Jonesboro attorney Ray Nickle to represent Mitchell, and Ron Hunter of Harrisburg to represent Andrew during the hearing.
Val Price, the Craighead County public defender, said the cost of defending the two boys would break his office budget.
"Right now, the county is making enough money to pay for our expenses," he said. "If the $500,000 is right, that exceeds all of what the public defender's office has."
Owens, a member of the Craighead County Quorum Court, filed the motion at the request of County Judge Dale Haas. Owens' motion cited Arkansas Code 16-61-109, which says that in civil cases the plaintiffs should pay for the defense of infants, insane people or prisoners.
"If you or I had to pay for legal defense, we'd have to make do with the funds that we have," Owens said. "Those two boys won't have to face any economic decisions at all. Why should they have a legal defense like that when we can't?"
Owens suggested the county could hire two temporary public defenders to defend Andrew and Mitchell for an annual salary of $40,000 each to cut the county's expenses. He added the state Public Defenders Commission could appoint defense attorneys.
"We need to look at options before we agree to pay private lawyers $100 an hour and give them free rein on what they do," he said. "I'm not saying we should cut people off from legal defense. We should just have limited expenses for that defense."
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